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Is Illinois Fully Compliant With the Prison Rape Elimination Act? Third Trans Inmate Sues

Tay Tay claims state prison officials ignored her sexual assault and then threatened her.

Content warning: This story details extreme alleged sexual abuse against transgender women in prison.

Illinois may have some questions to answer about its treatment of transgender prisoners. For the third time in less than a year, the state is facing transgender prison abuse allegations.

A federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a prisoner identified as Tay Tay claims that the state’s prison officials ignored her sexual assault at Shawnee Correctional Center in Southern Illinois and then threatened her when she tried to file grievances about it.

The suit, filed in Southern District of Illinois by the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC) and the MaCarthur Justice Center and obtained by NewNowNext, claims that in the 10 years Tay Tay has identified as female, she has always been housed with men across multiple prisons, where other inmates and prisoners misgendered and abused her.

Her complaint alleges that, in June 2018, she was raped by her cellmate, who hung a shirt on the door to conceal the assault. A guard found her naked and terrified on the floor of her cell in the middle of the incident.

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“When he opened the cell door, Plaintiff’s cellmate jumped on the toilet to pretend like nothing was happening,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendant Officer John Doe did nothing to protect Plaintiff; rather, he just told them to remove the shirt and continued walking.”

The following morning Tay Tay was placed on suicide watch. She was then allegedly returned to the same cell with the man who raped her. Her grievances went uninvestigated and prison staff told her if she continued to file them, she would be placed in solitary confinement, the suit claims.

Tay Tay’s lawsuit is the third against the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) on behalf of a transgender women alleging such abuse and requesting transfer in the last year. Last July, Strawberry Hampton, 27, sued the state in federal court in one of the most extreme allegations of anti-trans prison abuse cases to come to light. Hampton’s lawsuit was her fourth against IDOC.

Following Hampton’s suit, a judge ordered IDOC to train its prison staff on transgender issues. Hampton was moved to a women’s prison in December.

In February, 29-year-old trans woman Janiah Monroe filed a similar complaint seeking transfer, and alleging sexual abuse and misgendering from IDOC staff and inmates. She was transferred to a female facility one month later.

Illinois prisons are required to evaluate placement of transgender detainees on a case-by-case basis per the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). That law requires prisons to interview detainees about where they will be safest. It remains unclear if Illinois complies with that mandate.

Tay Tay’s attorneys allege that the state has a blanket policy of placing transgender people based on their gender assigned at birth. Alan Mills, executive director of UPLC, argues the state has to be sued in order to properly place transgender inmates.

“What the Prison Rape Elimination Act requires is an individualized assessment [of] each person, giving strongly to their own preferences as to where they think they will be safe,” Mills tells NewNowNext. “That last part is what is largely ignored in the Department of Corrections. They don’t seem to talk to [the inmates], let alone give what they say any weight.”

Joe Sohm/Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images

Department of Corrections, Cook County, Chicago, IL (Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/UIG via Getty Images)

Department of Corrections in Cook County, Illinois.

A Freedom of Information Act request filed by NewNowNext reveals that, as of February 2019, 115 transgender people were incarcerated in the state prisons. IDOC officials denied a records request seeking a breakdown of where those inmates have been placed and how many transgender women are housed with men.

Lindsey Hess, a public information officer for IDOC, declined to offer further details about those numbers. She, however, strongly refutes claims that the state is not fully PREA-compliant.

“The IDOC cannot comment on pending litigation,” Hess tells NewNowNext. “The Department carefully considers housing assignments and works with a committee comprised of medical, mental health, and security professionals when making placements for transgender offenders.”

Mills declined to say if his organization is currently representing other transgender inmates who have yet to file suit, but did say the problem in Illinois goes beyond the three who have already filed complaints.

“It’s not like we’ve been looking for these cases,” he says. “They have all just come to us in different ways.”

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